Preserving the Spell

In Armando Maggi’s Preserving the Spell – Fairy Tales and the Future of Story Telling, he starts out the gathering by showing the beginning of  Disney’s Snow White. Maggi then goes onto say that the story is “unchangeable”. He brings up the point that there are two different mirrors in shown in this story, the queens mirror, and the wishing well that shows Snow White’s reflection. In both reflections there are male figured, the man in the mirror that tells the queen that she is not the most beautiful woman anymore, and the prince in the wishing well. We are in the same position today as Snow White and the Queen. In our society today, we still need the confirmation of our beauty by others. A very interesting point, is that although these stories were written or told centuries ago, they are still very much still true today. The problems in these stories are very much like problems that people have today. The best example being, Snow White and the Queen’s need for confirmation of her beauty and her jealousy when she finds out that she is no longer the “fairest in all the land”. 

On the other hand, we also still have a very strong fixation with memoirs. Our society needs reality in order to keep us entertained. He believes that, “Fairy tales that are written in the past are not entertaining enough for us anymore”.  People in our society have a longing for reality, something that we can all relate to when we are reading stories. Our culture is in need for a new mythology in order to keep us interested in its stories. It “must be formed from the deepest depth of our spirit. It must be the most artificial of all artworks”.

Although all fairy tales have left such an impact on our lives because they have been around for such a long time and everyone has always read them when they were younger, they are beginning to go out of style for adults. These tales used to cater to everyone and even keep adults entertained. Sometimes, they do for example how people can relate to the Queen in Snow White always wanting confirmation of her beauty. But we also need something new and relatable to our society. Disney has already tried doing this for awhile, they’ve been taking old fairy tales and rewriting them to be more modernized. Even though I do believe that people will get bored of these stories once they grow up, I believe that it is still important for children to read these stories. Not only because of tradition, but also because these stories teach the very basic morals of life as well.

The Little Mermaid

Hans Christian Anderson’s version of The Little Mermaid is very different than Disney’s. Christian Anderson’s type of writing is also very different than most fairy tale writers. For example, he is very descriptive in his writing. I feel as if most fairy tale writers, Charles Perrault for instance, is very to the point with their stories. Christian Anderson makes a point of being very descriptive so that the reader can get a good mental picture of what is happening in the story. For example, when each of the mermaid princesses would travel up to the surface of the water every year for their fifteenth birthdays, he would elaborate on exactly what they saw.

“The following year, the second sister was allowed to go up through the water and swim wherever she liked. She came to the surface just as the sun was setting, and that was the sight she found most beautiful. The whole sky looked like gold, she said, and the clouds- well she just couldn’t describe how beautiful they were as they sailed” (pg. 218).  

Christian Anderson’s descriptions throughout the story kept it very animated and made me want to continue reading the story. Another way his stories are very different from other fairy tale writers is that in most other stories, the children are never the ones to be hurt. And if they are hurt, it usually turns out alright in the end. However, Christian Anderson’s version, the little mermaid gets her tongue cut out by the sea witch, drinks this potion that makes her feel as if she was getting stabbed by a “two edged sword” and also, whenever she walks on those legs that she got, she feels as if she is walking on knives.. She also doesn’t win over the prince at the end of this story. She turns into sea foam and has to live her life with “the daughters of the air”…

“‘We shall fly to the hot countries, where the stifling air of pestilence means death to mankind; we shall bring them cool breezes. We shall scatter the fragrance of flowers through the air and send them comfort and healing. When for three hundred years we have striven to do the good that we can, then we shall win an immortal soul and have a share in mankind’s eternal happiness” (pg. 232). 

Although the little mermaid did not get to be with her first love, the young prince, she does however get a second shot at life if she does good for three hundred years. I think I’ll stick to watching Disney’s version.

Hansel and Gretel

I don’t remember ever being read the story Hansel and Gretel when I was younger. I always knew that storyline behind it, but I don’t think I ever actually read it until right now. I’m glad that I waited until I was my age to read it because there’s a lot of in depth material in this tale that most children won’t pick up on. To most kids, this is just another story that in ends up happy in the end. However, there is a lot of female distrust in it as well. For example, in Brothers Grimm version Hansel and Gretel, the step-mother in the story, convinces the father of the children that they cannot feed the children any longer and in order to save themselves, they must abandon the children in the forest.

“‘Tomorrow at the break of day we’ll take the children out into the darkest part of the woods. We’ll make a fire for them and give them each a piece of bread. Then we’ll go about our work and leave them alone. They’ll never find their way home, and then we’ll be rid of them'” (pg.184). 

Although the father of the children in this story is very reluctant to leaving them, he eventually gives into his wife and goes along with her plan of abandoning the kids in the forest. To many kids, this may just seem like another part of the story when they are young enough to not understand, but to me at least, this story is very cruel. In The Juniper Tree, also by Brothers Grimm, the nasty step-mother actually kills the young boy in the story by decapitating him when he goes to reach for an apple.

“When the little boy bent down, the devil prompted her, and bam! She slammed the lid down so hard that the boy’s head flew off and fell into the chest with the apples” (pg. 190). 

This follows along with the common theme in fairy tales that step-mothers cannot be trusted, and that they are usually very cruel to children that are not theirs directly. Another woman that was thought to be trusted in the beginning is the witch that the children encounter in the woods when they are lost. She takes them in and feeds them and gives them nice beds to sleep in while they stay there. But, she is only doing this to fatten them up so that she can eat them when she wants to.  Although it has a happy ending of the children finding their way home and the step-mother not being around anymore… it’s still not something I would have wanted to be read to me before bedtime when I was young.

Bluebeard

I’ve never read Bluebeard until now and I can see why it was left out of the normal fairy tales that my parents used to read to me all the time. It is very gory for a young kid. The fact that women are getting butchered by a man is just not exactly something I would read to a kid before bed. However, just like Little Red Riding Hood, there are versions where the “bride” in the story doesn’t follow the rules and gets butchered, along with the other women that Bluebeard took as victims, but there are also the women that get away. As in the Brothers Grimm version of the story, Fitcher’s Bird. After convincing the sorcerer that she has not gone into his secret room, she tells him that she will marry him only if he brings a basket full of gold back to her parents. (The basket also happened to carry her two supposed to be dead sisters.) As he carried the basket to her house, she tricked all of his crew to come to his house for their “wedding” and her and her family burned down the house with the sorcerer and his crew all locked inside.

“But when he got to the house with his guests, the brothers and relatives who had been sent to rescue the bride were already there. They locked the doors to the house so that no one could escape. Then they set fire to it so that the sorcerer and his crew burned to death” (pg. 151). 

What a happy ending!! Although there are murdered women in the basin that they describe to be covered in blood and body parts, all of the women that are part of the stories usually make it out quite alive. For instance, in Fitcher’s Bird again, both of the sisters were killed before the third one came along and their body parts magically rejoined and burst back to life so that they could all escape. (Reasonable, right?). Also, in Charles Perrault’s version called Bluebeard, the woman was caught going into the forbidden room, but her brothers happen to be coming to visit that day. They made a quick entrance and killed Bluebeard before he could get to the bride.

“Just at that moment there was such a loud pounding at the gate that Bluebeard stopped short. The gate was opened and two horsemen, swords in hand, dashed in and made straight for Bluebeard. He realized that they were the brothers of his wife: the one a dragoon and the other a musketeer. He fled instantly in effort to escape. But the two brothers were so hot in pursuit that they trapped him before he could get to the stairs. They plunged their swords through his body and left him for dead” (pg. 147).

That bride also went on to receive all of his riches, and marry the man of her dreams. Although Bluebeard’s stories may be very bloody at points, they tend to end with happy endings.

How the movie “Brave” is Affecting Young Girl’s Self-Esteem

Growing up now is a lot different than growing up even when I was 10. (And that was only 10 years ago). I see it in my 13 year old sister. Girls are a lot more critical of themselves now. They have to have this perfect image of themselves, like older women do as well. The thing is, is that they’re not just making this up by themselves, they are getting this from what is being shown to them. Whether it be on their favorite TV show, or movie, or if they are looking in magazines. Only the pretty people are being advertised. One of the more recent controversies on this topic of only advertising perfect people in a not so perfect world, is how Disney animators changed the main character of the movie Brave, Merida, to be a thinner waistline, more “sexed-up” type of girl rather than the “beautifully confident” character she used to be.

“Merida joins a barrage of thin, sultry characters for girls, making her yet another facet of our sexed-up, thinned down messaging.’ Silverman points out that the original Merida ‘was beloved for her adventurous spirit, her unique look and her disinterest in romance as her ‘goal’ in life. Her allure was not physical–which sent a strong message to girls that they could be who they are– and still be beautiful, brave and confident'” (https://www.yahoo.com/movies/bp/merida-disney-princess-controversial-makeover-brave-heroine-really-224924634.html).

Most little girls LOVED the movie Brave. Merida is a funny, tom-boyish character that didn’t seem to care about what she looked like. Her hair was a mess always and she was tough and confident. What is this new make-over going to tell little girls that have already seen the movie and now see the new Merida? It’s going to tell them that it’s more normal to be a thinner beautiful princess.. and not a rough looking tom-boy.

“‘I would say that Brave is aimed at kids ages 5 to 10,’ mulls Betsy Brown Braun, also a childhood behavior and development specialist. ‘That’s prime territory for being affected in terms of body image. I don’t think this one makeover is going to be earth shattering all by itself, but it’s an element that contributes to the overall picture'” (https://www.yahoo.com/movies/bp/merida-disney-princess-controversial-makeover-brave-heroine-really-224924634.html). 

I think it important to not only advertise the perfectly skinny and good looking people. It’ll stop a lot of hate that’s going on about people not being perfect. It is crazy when big companies advertise “plus size” models that are HARDLY plus size and they get so much credit for it and they’re an amazing company because they let this bigger woman model their clothing. It shouldn’t be that way, it should be normal for ads to have bigger women and smaller women in them.

Donkeyskin

I have to admit, Charles Perrault’s version of Cinderella, Donkeyskin, is one of the weirdest stories I have ever read. But, I think that’s what kept me so interested in it. I can’t decide what had me so weirded out by it.. maybe it was the fact that the King wanted to marry his beautiful daughter? Or maybe it was how she got away by hiding herself under Donkey skin. The kings previous wife had him promise that he wouldn’t marry anyone that was less beautiful or wise than her. The king thought he had it all figured out when he decided that only the princess filled that role. She tried her best to get out of the marriage. She told her father that she would not marry him unless he made her beautiful dresses and got her jewelry. When all of this didn’t work, the fairy god mother came up with a more elaborate plan. Although this donkey was the most disgusting thing in the land, it had a special gift. It could poop gold. The princess knew her father would never kill the donkey since it was his main source of income, so she did this.

“‘You don’t have to stay on this lovely path. Are these gifts that you have received really so marvelous that when he has a donkey that, as you know, continually fills his coffers with gold coins? Ask him for the skin of that extraordinary animal. Unless I’m badly mistaken you won’t get it from him, since its the sole source of his wealth'” (pg 111). 

Well, the fairy godmother was wrong. He decided to kill the donkey and give her the skin of it to show how in love with her he was. The fairy god mothers next elaborate plan was to have her escape.

“She should let the king believe that she was completely prepared to take her wedding vows with him, but at the same time she must disguise herself and flee all alone to a distant country to avoid an evil destiny so certain and so near” (pg 111). 

She grabbed the donkey skin that was brought to her as a gift from her father, and threw it over herself as a disguise. She then left her life behind and went to a foreign land where no one knew her. Until one day a prince saw her in her room covered in all of her jewels and beautiful dresses that she managed to sneak out of her old life. He promised himself to marry her. Although everyone that he was crazy because she was a disgusting person, covered in donkey skin, he kept his word and one day everyone saw her for who she actually was. The beautiful lost princess. The prince and princess were married, and the father attended the wedding happily and not crazy anymore.

Donkeyskin was one of my favorite readings so far. It started with love between the king and queen, and ended with love between the prince and princess. And in between it had a plot line that made me want to keep reading to see what would happen next. It was so much more different than the regular Cinderella that every child reads.

Snow White

Something that I have always known is that there are multiple versions of most fairy tales. Usually they vary from culture to culture. I’m not really sure where I picked up this knowledge, but I’ve just always known that the Disney versions aren’t the only ones out there. Something I am beginning to learn now by reading through the text (The Classic Fairy Tales) is that all of these versions that I have previously heard of, are completely different from one another. Although they have the same basic core plot line, the stories turn out much different. Sometimes some of them even have different characters or different endings than the others. For example, in Giambattista Basile’s version of Snow White, called The Young Slave. “Snow White’s” name is actually Lisa in this version, and she was conceived when her mother ate a rose petal. After she was born, her mother brought her to fairy’s to bless her, and one of the fairies’ tripped and accidentally cursed her.

“She sent her to the fairies and they each gave her some charm, but the last one slipped and twisted her foot so badly as she was running to see the child, that in her acute pain she hurled a curse at her, to the effect that when she was seven years old, her mother, whilst combing out her hair, would leave the comb in her tresses, stuck in her head, and from this the child would perish” (pg. 80).

In most other versions, it is not the mother that sends the young girl into an eternal sleep. It is usually an Evil Queen or a Witch. This is also a character that varies. In Brothers Grimm version, Snow White grew to be the fairest lady in all the land and her envious step-mother (who also happens to be Queen) wants her dead, so that she is the most fair again. Snow White escapes and stumbles upon the Seven Dwarfs house in woods. They agree to let her stay if she keeps the house tidy. However, they knew that her step-mother would find out that she is there, and would try to kill her. After several attempts, (one being the comb in her head) the Evil Queen, disguised as an old women, gave Snow White a poisoned apple, which she ate, and put her into an eternal sleep.

“’I’ll get rid of my apples soon enough. Here, I’ll give you one.’ ‘No’ said Snow White, ‘I’m not supposed to take anything.’ ‘Are you afraid it’s poisoned?’ asked the old woman, ‘Here I’ll cut the apple in two. You can eat the red part, I’ll eat the white’ … But no sooner had she taken a bite when she fell down on the ground dead. The queen stared at her with savage eyes and burst out laughing. ‘White as snow, red as blood, black as ebony! This time the Dwarf’s won’t be able to bring you back to life!’” (pg. 88).

These examples are only two of the many differences found in each version of “Snow White”. I think that because all of these stories are so different, it makes them more interesting to read the same story over and over. It also goes to show how different people from multiple cultures lives were. All of these stories, based off of the same basic plot line, were told by different story tellers in different regions of the world. That’s what made all of the stories have their own little twist.

Beauty and the Beast

One of my personal favorite tales of all time, Beauty and the Beast, has much more meaning to it than just some beautiful girl saving her fathers life from a monster. The best part about this tale, is that there are so many different versions of it, with different types of beauty’s and different types of beast’s. However, the one that most people are accustomed to, by Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont, is the one that I grew up reading as well.

I always wondered how people came up with these types of tales so long ago. It is said, that these tales were most likely brought about when having an arranged marriage was more prevalent. To the women that are being married, some of these men might come off as “beasts”. Older women were said to of told this tale to calm the girls that were getting married and to potentially raise her hopes that maybe her beast will turn into a prince as well.

“Written at the dawn of the Enlightenment, it attempted to steady the fears of young women, to reconcile them to the custom of arranged marriages, and to brace them for an alliance that requested them to efface their own desires and to submit to the will of a ‘monster'” (pgs. 27-28).

This tale teaches so many lessons if you read between the lines. Not only does it teach how important it is to be a pleasant person but it also illustrates that love has no boundaries. In Madame de Beaumont’s version of Beauty and the Beast,  Beauty ends up falling in love with Beast because he is a kind-hearted being. To her, it doesn’t matter that he looks like a beast. (Although at the end she has to be pretty excited when he turns out to be a handsome prince..)

“‘No, my dear Beast, you will not die,’ said Beauty. ‘You will live and become my husband. From this moment on, I give you my hand in marriage, and I swear that I belong to only you. Alas, I thought that I felt only friendship for you, but the grief I am feeling makes me realize that I can’t live without you'” (pg. 41). 

Today, I found a video online, that shows exactly this, how it shouldn’t matter what people look like, but how they act. ( https://www.facebook.com/Upworthy/videos/967446766629515/) It’s a real tear-jerker. This goes to show how love has no boundaries in fairy tales like this one, and it should also have no boundaries in real-life.

Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf

Roald Dahl’s version of Little Red Riding Hood titled, Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, to me is a much more modernized and interesting read for someone our age. It goes to show how easy it is to spice up reading just by adding a few different outcomes to an old tale. However, there are many differences in this version than the more “original” versions of LRRH. For example, the tale most people are used to, by Brothers Grimm, starts with a mother and a girl that wears a little red cap and who tells her to bring cakes and wine to her sickly grandmother. Little Red Riding Hood, in this version, Little Red Cap has a run in with the Wolf on her way to her grandmother’s house.

“Little Red Cap, have you seen the beautiful flowers all about? Why don’t you look around for a while? I don’t think you’ve even noticed how sweetly the birds are singing. You’re walking along as if you were on the way to school, and yet it’s so heavenly out here in the woods.” (pg. 14)

That whole scene doesn’t even happen in Dahl’s version. I believe, Brothers Grimm had that scene in their version because it shows how naïve little kids can be, and their story was more about teaching them how to follow their parent’s instructions. Another difference that I found in Dahl’s version that does not happen in most other versions’ is the fact that LRRH is actually carrying a gun that she uses to kill the wolf so that he cannot eat her.

“’I’m going to eat you anyway.’

The small girl smiles. One eyelid flickers.

She whips a pistol from her knickers.

She aims it at the creature’s head

And bang bang bang, she shoots him dead.” (pg. 22)

That happens to be my favorite part of the whole tale. Shows the bravery and courage that this little girl has. This part is also in James Thurber’s version, The Little Girl and the Wolf. After she shoots the wolf with her “automatic”, Thurber goes on to the moral of the story, which happens to be, “It’s not so easy to fool little girls nowadays as it used to be.” I agree. Although I think that it is a very important lesson for kids to be taught to listen to their parents, as in what Brothers Grimm are going for with their version, I think it is also very important for children to learn bravery and courage. Both of these tales, even though they are both based on the same little girl, go to show how easily a few different scenes can change an entire outcome.

The Struggle for Meaning

The Struggle for Meaning — Bruno Bettelheim

“Today, as in times past, the most important and also the most difficult task in raising a child is helping him to find the meaning in life.” (p. 269)

The meaning in life is not something that can be taught to a child. It is something that they learn on their own throughout time through experiences that they have. To this author, it should be the parent’s job to give their children these experiences so that they can find the meaning in life for themselves. In this particular reading, the author is a therapist of severely disturbed children. Her main goal is to restore the meaning in their lives. He believes that this information is best given to children through literature.

“For a story truly to hold the child’s attention, it must entertain him and arouse his curiosity. But to enrich his life, it must stimulate his imagination; help him to develop his intellect and to clarify his emotions; be attuned to his anxieties and aspirations; give full recognition to his difficulties, while at the same time suggesting solutions to the problems which perturb him.” (p. 270)

Bettelheim thinks that most literature that is written today, and in the past, does not do a good job of catering to a child’s imagination and emotions. Not only does it need to cater to all of these needs in order for a child to truly benefit from the story, but it also needs to entertain them so that they continue reading on. In order for me to finish a book, it has to hook me in. Not only does it have to keep me interested in the story line, but it also has to keep me thinking about what is going to happen next. Bettelheim makes a good point in saying this. Not only will a child learn from the books and tales he reads, but they will also open his imagination and somehow, help him learn more about the meaning in life.